Rices TD is All Yale Defense Needs; Elis Blank Lehigh 7-0

Paul Rice. (photo by Kevin McCarthy)

Oct 17, 2009

Yale First Team to Shut Out Lehigh in 23 Years

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- He's now known as one of the
top linebackers in the Ivy League, but back in high school Yale
senior Paul Rice was a running back in addition to playing defense.
Rice still knows what to do when he gets the ball in his hands, and
he showed that with a 40-yard touchdown run on a fake punt early in
the third quarter Saturday afternoon at Lehigh. That was enough for
a 7-0 Bulldog win, as Yale became the first team since 1986 to shut
Lehigh out.

"We wanted to give our players a chance to make a play," said
Tom Williams, Yale's Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football, of
the decision to call the fake on fourth-and-11 at the Lehigh 50.
"It wasn't the call that made the play. Paul made the play."

Rice looked right at home with the ball in his hands when he
took the snap from senior defensive lineman Matt Kelleher while,
several yards behind Rice, senior punter/place kicker Tom Mante
leaped up as if the snap had gone over his head.

"It's kind of a blur," said Rice, who had a touchdown last year
on a 24-yard interception return while playing cornerback. "I
caught the snap and saw I had two blockers in front, so I let the
blocks develop. At some point I cut it back, then I headed to the
sideline and I saw daylight."

That turned out to be the only scoring on a cold and rainy day
at Goodman Stadium. The two teams combined for seven turnovers,
including three fumbles lost by Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks were
0-for-13 on third down conversions.

The Bulldog defense got the first turnover, as junior outside
linebacker Sean Williams stripped the ball from quarterback Michael
Colvin and senior outside linebacker Travis Henry grabbed the
fumble to set the Yale offense up at the Lehigh 28. But penalties
on three straight plays left Yale punting from its own side of the
field.

That was one of eight punts in the first quarter alone, and
Lehigh got no further than the Yale 41 as the Bulldogs controlled
the field position battle. Lehigh quarterback Chris Lum started out
0-for-8 on pass attempts, a streak he finally broke on the third
play of the second quarter.

Lehigh mounted its biggest threat right before halftime, driving
47 yards thanks mainly to a 43-yard scramble by Lum. But a 33-yard
field goal attempt by Tom Randazza was blocked at the line of
scrimmage by senior defensive lineman Tom McCarthy.

"We called an overload to one side," said McCarthy. "I was lined
up next to [junior defensive lineman] Pat Moran. I had missed a
sack that led to a long gain earlier in the drive, so I felt like I
needed to get a hand on the field goal to keep the shutout. Pat got
a good push, then I came underneath and got my right hand on it."

It didn't take long for the Yale defense to produce a big play
in the second half. On Lehigh's second play from scrimmage Colvin
lost the ball again, and it popped right to sophomore free safety
Geoff Dunham, setting the Yale offense up at midfield. But when a
third-and-six pass fell incomplete, Mante headed in to the game
with the punting unit. It looked as if Yale then took a delay of
game penalt
y just to give Mante more room to work with in trying to pin Lehigh
down with a punt. But instead the Bulldogs pulled the fake punt out
of their playbook and worked it to perfection.

After that the shutout was sealed by some more big plays from
the defense. Junior cornerback Adam Money picked off a pass at the
Yale 39 and returned it 18 yards later in the third quarter.
McCarthy and Moran had sacks on back-to-back plays early in the
fourth, and McCarthy got another sack on the very next drive to
help negate a Yale interception. It came with the ball on the Yale
seven-yard line on third down; the Mountain Hawks then missed a
30-yard field goal attempt.

McCarthy has a team-high three sacks for the season, and his 4.5
tackles for loss trail only Rice (five, including two Saturday).

"We like to blitz, and we have an aggressive defense," McCarthy
said. "When we bring the pressure, we have to get there. But
sometimes we're not going to bring the pressure and it's just going
to be one-on-one matchups, and you've got win those one-on-one
matchups. I was able to do that."

The Yale offense turned to senior tailback Rodney Reynolds to
help control the clock in the fourth quarter, and Reynolds
delivered a career-high 45 yards on 11 carries.

The Bulldogs had seen their running back depth depleted with
senior tailbacks Jordan Farrell and Brandon Scott out; Reynolds
made the most of his opportunity to step up.

"Rodney, coming out of the spring, was our starting running back
but he had an injury that set him back," said Williams. "To his
credit he kept practicing and kept doing all the things that we
asked. We said to our guys, ‘You never know when your
opportunity is going to come through injury or attrition. Sometimes
you just practice better to give yourself an opportunity.' Rodney
did that. He had a great week of practice last week."

Lehigh (1-5, 1-0 Patriot League) still had a chance to tie,
getting the ball back at its own 46 with 2:10 to play after
blocking a Yale field goal attempt. On the very first play,
however, split end De'Vaughn Gordon was hit by senior linebacker
Tim Handlon as he attempted a hook-and-ladder toss. The ball
bounced off the hand of its intended recipient and right to
Williams, who fell on it at midfield. That enabled the Yale offense
to come out for junior quarterback Brook Hart to take a knee three
times and run out the clock.

This was the first time since a 41-0 rout by Navy in 1986 that
Lehigh had been shut out, a span of 263 games.

The performance of the Yale defense was all the more impressive
considering that the Bulldogs lost one of their starters and
emotional leaders in senior strong safety Larry Abare, who was
injured while covering a punt midway through the first quarter.

"Any time Larry Abare goes out, it's tough, because Larry is not
only a phenomenal player but a great leader on this team," said
Rice. "But I think it also gave an opportunity for [junior free
safety] Marcus Wallace and [junior strong safety] John Pagliaro to
step up, and they played well. The guys on special teams filling
Larry's role played well too. Every week we've had different people
step up. Last week it was [sophomore free safety] Geoff Dunham who
stepped up and had a great game. This week Rodney, Pagliaro and
Wallace all stepped up and made plays."

The Yale offense also had one of its top receivers, junior
Jordan Forney, injured during the game as well. Thanks in part to
other injuries and illness, the Bulldogs' travel squad of 62 for
this game had a double-digit amount of freshmen. That included
three starters on offense -- fullback Jordan Capellino, lineman
Jeff Marrs and wide receiver Chris Smith. That, combined with the
end result, left Williams optimistic as Yale (3-2, 1-1 Ivy League)
passes the halfway point.

"We're a young football team," Williams said. "When you can win
a game like this on the road, it says a lot about your character
and fortitude."

Yale's final five games of the season are all Ivy League games,
starting next Saturday at Penn (3:30 p.m.).